CAMPUS FEATURE
PRESCOTT ARIZONA CAMPUS Nestled in the beautiful Bradshaw Mountains between Phoenix and the Grand Canyon, our Western campus is renowned for its excellent seasonal weather and outdoor activities, such as skiing, hiking, mountain biking, kayaking and rock climbing, to name just a few.
CHASING SHADOWS
Engineering Students Unlock the Science of the Solar Eclipse Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Prescott Campus students collaborated with NASA in a two-year project focused on studying the total solar eclipse as part of the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project (NEBP). This collaborative partnership engaged students from various programs, including Aerospace Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. Under the guidance of their professors and NASA experts, Prescott students gathered stratospheric data from high-altitude weather balloons to research the total solar eclipse. “High-altitude balloons have been used for a long time to study the atmosphere and are a great way to engage students,” Dr. Yabin Liao, assistant professor of Aerospace Engineering and faculty advisor for the student team known as ASCEND, shared. “The NASA-sponsored NEBP project provided a fantastic opportunity for students to explore science and engineering as part of a meaningful research project.” The project involved using advanced technology to collect data during the eclipse, including measurements of its effects on temperature, pressure and wind patterns. Since joining ASCEND, the team president, Somaralyz Grullon (’24), and the treasurer, Chloe Reed (’24), have participated in launching several high-altitude balloons. Their initial attempt to measure atmospheric conditions occurred during the annular eclipse in October 2023.
As members of the NEBP Arizona North team, Embry-Riddle Prescott students had the opportunity to travel to Texas on April 8, 2024, to launch six payloads into the stratosphere. These payloads were designed to collect various data points during the launch, including pressure, temperature, low-frequency radio signals and images. “A large part of the data collection was to show stratospheric gravity waves propagating after the eclipse due to changes in pressure and ionosphere,” Aerospace Engineering student Reed shared. “We were able to prove there was a measurable gravity wave distortion because of the sudden drop and then rise in temperature caused by the eclipse shadow.” Grullon and Reed were invited by the NEBP to present their findings at the Academic High-Altitude Conference in Minnesota. Along with other participating teams, they had the opportunity to share their experiences and the data collected during the eclipse, which will contribute to advancements in education, research and technology development. “Working on this project has been a fulfilling conclusion to my collegiate journey,” recent Mechanical Engineering graduate Grullon expressed. “The skills I developed during this collaboration directly contributed to my internship and job offer at Aurora Flight Sciences.”
CAMPUS PROFILE
s 3,200 Undergraduate Students s 49 States / 48 Countries Represented s 8% International Students Student Clubs + Organizations Our Arizona Campus is home to countless student clubs, ranging from the Mountain Biking Club to the Society of Women Engineers and the Blue Eagles Skydiving Team to the Brotherhood of Steel, as well as a variety of intramural and recreational sports.
Athletics Women’s s Basketball
Men’s
s Baseball s Basketball
s Cross Country
s Golf
s Cross Country
s Outdoor Track
s Golf
s Soccer s Softball s Volleyball
s Outdoor Track
s Soccer
s Wrestling
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23 | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
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